08 December 2014

HELVETESPINE

My introduction to black metal was gradual...read a few interviews and got intrigued in the the early '90s (take my brief but ridiculous fascination with BLACK FUNERAL, for example), and I recently saw a picture taken during my first trip to Japan of me wearing a BURZUM shirt...I guess that was weird because I never really listened to them (I think I traded it with someone for a FUCKFACE shirt based solely on the fact that the dude was a weirdo? Didn't learn about the aryan shit until later...live and learn, I suppose). I made a few random purchases, shots in the dark, and most were forgettable (though I have a KVIST disc that has lasted several purges). Then WEAKLING were just the new metal band in town and Aesop lived down the hall and played all kinds of shit and some of it was good and some of it was stupid but all of it was different than the German metalcore I was probably immersing myself in at the time. The point is: I don't know that much, but THIS sounds like all of the good stuff that made me think that this subgenre was worth delving deeper into. And sometimes when you delve deeper, you find bands like Norway's HELVETESPINE. Harsh, bleak, plodding raw black metal in the tradition of the first wave of Nordic heavyweights. Maybe someone else will tell me that these sounds are unworthy for one reason or another, but I think you will find that this 2007 release is more than capable of making your skin crawl. Guitar solo at the 4:22 mark of "Helvetespine del I" is a particularly grim moment....let yourself sink in.

1 comment:

TAPES....FUCKING TAPES!!!

TERMINAL ESCAPE is a home for cassettes. Terminal Escape is here to share music that was released on, or copied onto, cassette. Whenever possible, I have linked the posts to currently active labels and/or bands, and you are encouraged to buy physical copies of the tapes you enjoy, as this blog is meant to support those bands and labels, not circumvent them. Likewise, if you have a legitimate claim to any of the music I've shared and would like it removed, I'm happy to do so.

DEAD LINKS are common. I will likely not repair broken links, because I am more focused on daily uploads. Various overzealous file hosting sites are making it increasingly difficult to share even non-copyright protected music, and as a result the majority of the download links in older Terminal Escape posts are probably not active.